Suspects
by Black Oracle
Summary: Tech has to clear his name when he is set up by an unknown impersonator. Can he avoid the police and his doubting team mates whilst he searches for answers to a crime to which there is more than he suspects? Final epilogue is up!
1. Chapter 1

**Suspects**

Prologue

1:00 AM at the Acme bio-chemical labs. Indoors, two security officers are patrolling the grounds of the facility in their nightly rounds with flashlights. Outside, a shadow of a sleek figure blends into the over-casting shadows of the building. The mysterious figure slips into the labs stealthily through a small air vent tunnel. Back inside the labs, the two patrolling guards cross paths on the corridor of the fifth level.

"Very quiet tonight wouldn't you say Bill?" one of the guards chats to the other.

"What are ya talking 'bout Jeff? It's quiet every night." Bill replies leisurely to Jeff.

Suddenly, the sound of a dropping object from further along the corridor interrupts the evening silence surrounding the two guards.

"What was that?" Bill voices. "Came from over there."

"Let's check it out." Jeff advises, waving Bill to follow him.

The two guards swiftly make their way toward the source of the sound. Their flashlights reveal a small intricately-designed metal cylinder lying on the floor.

"What the…?"

Before the guard can complete his question, the lid of the small device bursts open and instantly a grey gas is emitted into the air. The two guards start coughing violently as the gas infiltrates their lungs. They fall to their knees as they begin losing consciousness. Very quickly, the small quantity of noxious gas disperses into the air, and a shadowed figure leaps down from above somewhere. The mysterious intruder steps into the dim lighting as he walks past the collapsed guards. Jeff manages to look up for a moment at the intruder.

"Pleasant dreams gentlemen." the familiar well-spoken voice of the intruder utters.

"Te…Tech E. Coyote! Uhhh…"

Jeff, the guard, finally passes out, with the coyote's diminishing form as the last thing in his vision before he does so. Tech continues to stroll down the corridor in full view of security cameras, which follow his movement toward a sealed room with a warning sign on it. Tech pauses at the security-locked metal doors, apparently studying them for a moment. Then he pulls out a small electronic gadget from a pocket and holds it up to a number-pad by the side of the metal doors. The gadget expels a connecting wire, which attaches itself to the number-pad and starts running codes through it. A few seconds later, the metal doors open for him. Tech walks inside, straight toward a small square metal platform in the centre of the room. Again, Tech's security hacking gadget opens up the platform for the waiting coyote, and a cylindrical canister painted with bio-hazard warnings emerges. Tech grabs the canister with a satisfied smile, then heads out again to make his escape from the labs.


	2. Chapter 2

This story is for all the Tech fans out there! Because we can never get enough of the coolness that is Tech E. Coyote!

Thank you to CK13, Fan Boy 101, tea and fuzzball3193 for your positve responses! And here's chapter 1 to go some small way to quenching your curiousities about what happens next! Enjoy!

Loonatics Unleashed are the copyright creations of Warner Brothers!

Chapter 1

The next day at Loonatics' HQs, Ace, Lexi, Duck, Slam and Rev are relaxing in the living room when a call from Zadavia comes in.

"Loonatics, we have a very serious problem." Zadavia announces to the five immediately gathered Loonatics. "Where's Tech?"

"Busy-away-as-usual-in-his-lab,-he'll-be-up-in-a-minute-he-said," Rev replies.

As if on cue, Tech enters the living room at that moment.

"Sorry, I was finishing up on a certain project. What's the problem this time?"

The rest of the Loonatics looked to Zadavia expectantly. There was a tense pause before she spoke again.

"You're the problem Tech, there are police charges on you."

All the Loonatics fell into a stunned silence. Tech stared dumbly at Zadavia's hologram.

Duck laughed. "Ohohohoho! Heh, for moment there I thought you said that Tech was in trouble with the police boss-lady! Hahahahahahaa! So what was it you really said?"

"You heard me correctly Duck. Tech, the Acme police department are demanding your immediate arrest as we speak." Zadavia announced seriously.

Tech managed to recover himself from his stunned disbelief.

"On what charges?" he immediately demanded.

"You're wanted for intrusion onto prohibited premises, robbery and assault. Last night, 'you' were seen at the Acme bio-chemical labs stealing a highly dangerous chemical!" Zadavia replied in an almost accusing tone.

"Impossible! I was here all last night!" Tech protested.

"It's gotta be some kind of mistake Zadavia!" Ace spoke up.

"They have solid evidence of your involvement in the robbery last night Tech." Zadavia continued firmly. "Security cameras caught you in the act, and two security officers saw you in person!"

"What?!" Tech cried in disbelief.

"Well…I didn't actually see Tech around last night…" Lexi slowly admitted.

"Nuh-uh! Me neither!" Slam grumbled too.

"Aaannd-quite-frankly,-Tech's-one-of-the-few-people-in-this-city-that-is-knowledgeable-enough-to-possibly-fathom-any-use-for-a-hazardous-chemical-from-the-bio-chemical-labs!" Rev added grimly.

Ace and the others nodded in confirmation to this as well.

"I was in my lab last night! Oh come on!" Tech cried. "This is ridiculous! You don't really think 'I' would do anything like that do you?!"

"They have you on camera Tech." Ace replied slowly in a pained tone. "Hard to beat the evidence of your eyes."

"I'm telling you all, I wasn't at the bio-chemical labs last night!!" Tech shouted in anguish.

"Easy Tech, just settle down!" Lexi tried to calm him.

"Tech, listen, we'll look into this in more detail I promise! But for the time being I think it'd be best if you cooperate with the police and turn yourself in." Ace insisted.

"Agreed Ace. Tech, we mustn't agitate the police any further. If indeed you are innocent, it shall be proven." Zadavia affirmed.

"You have to let me help in the investigation! You'll need my skills and observations!" Tech asserted desperately. "You might miss something important. You won't find out the truth without me!"

"No Tech. The police would not allow a suspect's involvement in the inquest. It's best if you stay out of any potential trouble and where the police can monitor you." Zadavia reasoned sternly.

"You mean in incarceration!" Tech coldly responded.

"Tech, don't make this any more difficult." Lexi calmly tried to plead.

"Just come quietly with us Tech." Ace firmly instructed in a low tone, taking a step forward.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Tech glanced around himself at all his advancing team mates. He couldn't afford to be removed from the field now, he needed to personally look into this case! His reputation was at stake! At that moment, Tech made a fast decision in his mind.

"Forgive me." he uttered under his breath.

Tech speedily activated his electromagnetic powers and aimed them downwards toward the metal floor.

"Whoah! What's he doi…"

Duck was cut off abruptly as the floor started vibrating unsteadily then shook violently, causing Ace and the others to lose their balance and fall over. Tech seized his opportunity for escape. He ran past the others and out the sliding living room doors. Ace and Lexi scrambled to their feet first.

"Quickly! Cut him off! Don't let him get to the hanger exit!" Ace ordered.

"I'm more worried about him getting to his lab!" Lexi urgently alerted.

Soundless gasps formed on all their lips at the thought of the coyote's weaponry arsenal stored in his lab. They raced to stop Tech. Rev speeded ahead of the others first, heading to Tech's lab. Just as he neared the lab doors, he saw Tech dash in.

"Security lock-in procedure 04! Activate!" Tech commanded to his lab's computerized systems.

Rev accelerated to reach the lab doors before they slammed shut, but unfortunately, he was a split-second too late and smacked right into them, beak first. The road runner rubbed his painful beak.

"Unlock-the-lab-doors!" Rev ordered out loud.

"Access denied." their HQ's computerized voice responded defiantly.

"But-it's-real-important!-C'mon-let-me-in!"

"Access denied."

Rev made a mental note to attempt to alter the base's pre-programmed security lock procedures later.

Locked inside his lab, Tech rapidly scavenged through his various inventions until he found an adequate weapon. He lifted up his gluco-gel gun and wordlessly readied it for firing. He heard the others assembling right outside the lab doors.

"Tech! Come out of there now or we'll have to break our way in!" Ace threatened at the top of his voice from outside.

"And don't you dare touch anything in there y'hear!" Duck added as an after-thought.

Just as Ace was about to blast the lab doors down with his laser vision, he and the others were completely taken by surprise when the lab doors, ripped loose by Tech's enveloping electromagnetic green energy, rushed forward, slamming right into them and pushing them back against the opposite wall behind them. The metal doors then fell flat onto the floor in front of them with a loud thud. Tech leaped out with his gluco-gel gun and aimed it at his stunned team mates.

"Sorry guys." Tech offered minimally.

He fired rounds of encapsulating gel at Lexi, Rev and Slam, trapping them in gelatinous cubes and effectively immobilising them. Duck teleported out of the way just as a round of gel was about to hit him. Ace charged toward Tech, intending to tackle him to the floor, but Duck re-materialised above Tech then, conveniently allowing the coyote to take a step back and push the falling mallard forward right into Ace. The pair fell over backward. Tech then sprinted off toward the vehicle hanger.

"Tech stop!" Ace shouted, pushing a nervously grinning Duck off him. But the imperative order fell on deaf ears.

Ace got to his feet and started cutting through the gel trapping Lexi with his laser vision. Rev was vibrating his body at superspeed, generating enough heat to melt through his gel. Duck jumped up on top of Slam and grabbed a hold of his head protruding out from the gel cube. He then teleported Slam out of it.

Tech reached the vehicle hanger with all the Loonatics' hover-bikes. He mounted his vehicle and slid on his riding helmet.

"Priority 1! Zoomatrix general user override! Security lock-out 0 for units 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6!" Tech ordered aloud to the other 5 hover-bikes.

There was an acknowledging beep from the other 5 vehicles. Ace and the others ran in in time to see Tech take off, swiftly driving out through the open exit on his hover-bike.

"After him!" Ace barked.

But as the others tried to mount their rides, sudden jolts of electricity from the bikes forced them to back away.

"He's-overridden-command-of-our-bikes-and-locked-them-down!" Rev reported despairingly. "No-way-no-how-to-get-them-to-work-now!"

"Well can't you just 'override' Tech's override?" Lexi asked Rev.

"Hey,-he-mostly-designed-and-built-these-vehicles-by-himself!-He's-obviously-programmed-them-to-prioritize-responding-to-his-overriding-commands!-That's-Tech-for-yer!"

Ace let out an exasperated groan. Tech had been well-assisted by his technology. "We'll have to find another means then to resume the chase! We can't afford to have Tech running around loose in the city!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Tech's heart was pounding heavily in his chest and the adrenalin rush was still heightening his senses. He drove through quieter parts of Acmetropolis to avoid attracting possible police attention.

"I got to find out what exactly's going on!" Tech determined to himself. "But first, I have to get out of sight."

Tech started heading further out into older, derelict areas of Acmetropolis. He eventually reached an obviously aged and littered stretch of street enclosed between worn, broken buildings, a remnant of Acmetropolis' long-gone past. Tech halted his bike as soon as he approached a certain spot on the old street. A scanner device beneath him activated and scanned his body. A portion of the street suddenly slid open in front of him, revealing a small runway that led further down beneath the street level.

"Home sweet home version 2.0!" Tech smiled to himself. "Glad I decided to construct an alternative base of operations for myself."

He entered onto the runway and the street top closed shut above him again to re-conceal his hideout. Automatic lighting switched themselves on as Tech drove further under street level. Finally he came to a stop when he reached a clearing, formerly an old, out-of-use underground station, where a pre-set laboratory and work station now was assembled. Tech dismounted his bike and removed his helmet, then made his way to a large computer interface.

"Now to make sure I've covered my tracks." he murmured to himself as the sophisticated computer flickered into operation.

"User confirmed. Welcome back Tech E. Coyote." the computer voice reverberated.

"Computer, initiate defence settings. Radar-block field dampers, anti-hacker firewall and tracking-inhibitor cloaking." Tech instructed. "This place must remain hidden."

"Defence settings activating."

"And this underground location plus the security net should be sufficient to render my brain patterns undetectable to Rev's GPS." Tech assured himself.

Back at the Loonatics' HQs, Ace turned to Rev. Rev was standing with his fingers to his temples in concentration, performing a telepathic GPS scan of the city for Tech.

"Well?" Ace queried.

"That's-really-odd,-I-can't-find-him-anywhere!-Not-a-trace-,-not-a-hint,-not-even-a-whiff-of-Tech!-Nothing!-It's-like-he's-not-even-on-the-map-anymore!" Rev informed somewhat perplexed.

"And city-wide scans picked up nothing either." Lexi added, wondering herself.

A transmission call came in from Zadavia then.

"Unfortunately, my scanners have turned up empty as well. Tech is nowhere to be found." Zadavia informed. "This has been most distressing behaviour from him."

"People don't just disappear into thin air," Duck stated, "except for me of course 'coz as we all know, I'm the master of 'quacking'!"

The others rolled their eyes, unimpressed at Duck's self-indulgent comment.

"He's gotta be hidin' somewheres." Ace deduced with a hand to his chin in thought.

"A likely presumption Ace." Zadavia agreed. "He can't stay hidden forever. Keep searching for him until you do pick up some sign of him. Zadavia out."

Zadavia's transmission ended.

"I hate to say this guys, but I'm starting to actually believe that Tech 'did' break into Acme Bio-Chemical labs last night." Ace confessed in a disappointed tone. "I mean, he seems to be going to an awful lot of trouble to avoid us."

The others remained silent, looking at the floor beneath their feet. What could they possibly say to their leader's valid point?

Back in the underground lair, Tech continued to watch his computer screen intently at a news broadcast.

"In a shocking discovery, late last night, one of the infamous Loonatics, Dr. Tech E. Coyote, was caught on camera breaking into the Acme Bio-Chemical labs. He was witnessed by two security officers on patrol in the compound at the time whom he assaulted with knock-out gas. He left the labs with a canister of, as we have learnt, a bio-hazardous chemical known as M-14."

Tech's eyebrows raised at this. "M-14?!"

"Police have been unable to locate the coyote inventor and are currently still searching the city for him. We have heard from the Loonatics' leader, Ace Bunny, that he and the other Loonatics are also searching for the elusive Dr. Coyote. So has one of Acmetropolis' greatest minds finally snapped?"

Tech turned off the news broadcast, reluctant to listen to anymore.

"Mutagen-14," Tech remembered aloud, "the Acme Science Council's controversial attempt at a 'cure' for people that were affected by the meteor's radiation a year and a half ago! But I thought the project was terminated."

Tech rubbed his chin in thought, then began tapping away at the computer's keypad. He successfully hacked into the Acme Science Council's computer records and searched for information on the M-14 chemical. A page of information came up. Tech's eyes skimmed across the lines as he read through it.

"I thought so, the ACS terminated further research on the M-14 experimental mutagenic formula 6 months ago, a year and 3 months after I contributed my 'DNA Stabilizer' device to the project…."

Tech stopped as memories of a past time rose in his mind that he would have rather not remembered for the slight feeling of shame it brought with it. He sank into quiet reflection as he looked down at his green palms for the brevity of a moment. Then he pushed his personal memories aside and continued with his investigative line of thought.

"But who would know enough about it to want to steal it? And more importantly, why?"

Tech paused in silent consideration for a minute.

"I have to check out the labs for myself." he decided. "There might be some clues my 'impersonator' left behind."

With that conviction, Tech stood up from his seat by the computer and walked over to the right-side of his lair. He approached a containment tube housing an impressive battle exo-suit creation of his. He pressed a button on a remote control, and the mechanical, metallic dark blue suit responded by taking clunky robotic steps toward him.

"Guess I have a chance to finally field test my Upgrader Battle-Suit 8200."

Tech couldn't help beaming at the prospect of trying out his, as yet, untested invention.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Later that evening, Tech stepped out of an inconspicuous, dull-coloured car near to the Acme Bio-Chemical labs. He was wearing a long dark brown coat and a hat over his long ears to conceal him from immediate visual recognition. He pulled the tall collars of his sweeping coat up to his face as he made his way to the target building. He had a persistent feeling of guilt for what he was about to do there, but it had to be done.

At Loonatics' HQs, the Loonatics were all standing around impatiently in the central command room. Rev was sitting bored at the control panels when the monitor screen in front of him suddenly started flashing red. A map image displayed a moving red dot.

"Ace!" Rev quickly alerted, "Someone's-heading-toward-the-Bio-Chemical-labs-and-it's-not-the-police!"

"I see it Rev," Ace responded as quickly, "get on line with the police commissioner and tell him. We'll rendezvous with his patrol there."

The Loonatics put on their jetpacks and flew out of HQs.

Back at the labs, Tech had snuck to the building's shadowed side. He placed an electronic lock-opening device next to a window, and waited for the sound of the electronic window lock's opening click. Then easily pulling the window open, he slipped inside the compound silently. As he made his way to the first corridor, he scanned the ceiling for CCTV cameras. Two of them.

"A localized EMP shot should take them out." Tech expertly assessed.

His hands glowed green as he generated globules of electromagnetic energy. Then he shot the energy balls at the cameras, effectively cutting off their electrical power. Soon Tech had navigated his way to the fifth floor of the compound, taking out several CCTV cameras along the way. As he emerged from an elevator lift, he placed a pair of metal-framed, bright-lensed goggles over his eyes and began surveying the corridor.

"These ultra-violet light emitting goggles should pick up footprints."

He saw them clearly through the lenses. Two intersecting trails of footprints, similar to his own in shape, led to and from the room that had once held the M-14 chemical. He then noticed that the leaving trail had ended abruptly on a certain spot. He looked up to the ceiling right above the spot and saw a small air vent opening. He increased the magnification of his lenses.

"Hmm, too small for someone of my size to fit through." Tech observed.

He then noticed a strange thick, viscous liquid dripping from the rim of the air vent opening. It had a dark, deep red, almost black, coloration.

Tech looked down to the floor again and spotted a small puddle of the strange liquid. He removed his goggles then knelt down and, with a syringe, carefully extracted a sample of the dark liquid, then placed the sample in an air-tight glass vile. He pocketed it. Then he decided to head to the video surveillance room. Once there, he sifted through racks of camera footage discs. He selected one labelled with the previous night's date and evening times, pocketing that too.

Tech made his way down to ground level again as soon as he was done. He was heading to the window he had entered through when he noticed approaching lights from outside through the windows in dismay. A whole team of police were stationing themselves around the building, blocking off its exits. Suddenly, the front doors ahead of Tech burst open as a compact group of armed police barged in, and right behind them were Ace and the other Loonatics. The police fanned out in a semi-circle around Tech, taking aim at him with their weapons.

"What a surprise, the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime!" Duck sarcastically jested at Tech with his hands on his hips.

"Tech E. Coyote, you're under arrest! Put your hands up where we can see them!" ordered the police group leader.

"This is as far as you go Tech!" Ace sternly stated. "Now do as he says!"

Tech paused for a moment, then removed the hat that had been covering his ears from his head.

"If you insist." Tech responded in an unusually casual tone.

Tech swept his glowing green magnetic hands upwards and as he did so, all the police guns were seized and pulled from their grasps. A few of the policemen fell forward as a result, and Tech threw their guns out of their immediate reach behind him.

"Loonatics! Stop him!" Ace quickly ordered, pointing at Tech.

"Upgrader activate!" Tech instructed.

"What's he…?" Lexi began.

But she cut herself off as Tech was suddenly enveloped by layers of dark blue, mechanical armour. A streamlined helmet with razor-sharp ear pieces slid over his snout. The Upgrader Battle-Suit 8200 covered him from head to toe. The other Loonatics gasped as a tall, fully-armoured, robotic coyote imposingly looked upon them with illuminated green optics.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

"Whoah!-Didn't-see-that-comin'!" Rev choked.

"Loonatics take him down!" Ace rallied.

The others dispersed as Ace stood his ground and fired his laser vision directly at Tech's chest, but it bounced right off a transparent force-field that surrounded Tech and back in Ace's direction. Ace let out a gasp and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by his own lasers.

"Auto laser-refractive electro-shield." Tech explained as he advanced toward Ace.

He stopped when his internal movement sensors picked up Rev's speeding form heading toward him from behind. Tech spun around and slammed a fist into Rev's oncoming face, sending the road runner sliding backwards across the floor. Slam whirled across to Tech in his tornado mode. A small gun emerged from Tech's armoured right shoulder and fired a spin-neutralizing ray at the spinning Tasmanian devil. Rapidly Slam found himself slowing down until his body had stopped spinning completely.

"Ruugh??" Slam said confused.

A stun blast from Tech caught Slam off guard, and he fell down unconscious. Duck conjured up two power orbs and threw them at Tech. The coyote swiped them away with a repeller-energy-shielded arm. Then from Tech's armoured arm emerged another device. He fired a disorientating vertigo beam at Duck, causing the mallard to fall to his knees clutching his unsteady head. His vision was blurring and a nauseous sickness overcame him.

"Ugggh! I think I'm going to be sick…." Duck blurted.

"Ace! Together! Attack pattern 13!" Lexi called.

Ace and Lexi flipped toward Tech. Tech brought his armoured arms up in front of himself for protection as their slicing, air-borne legs came down in continuous crashes against his armour plating. Their kick strikes were surprisingly strong and well-aimed. Tech could feel the reverberations from them from within his battle-suit. He struggled to block both their rapid strikes as they continued to alternately hit him at different times. Finally, Tech managed to grab one of Ace's ankles in mid-air and flung him aside into a wall. Lexi began to charge up a brain blast between her long ears. Tech immediately aimed an arm at her with another weapon emerging from it. He fired a high-frequency sonic blast at Lexi. The pink bunny let out a scream of pain as she clutched her overwhelmed sensitive ears. Tech then tossed a few smoke bombs across the floor. Instantly, a wall of heavy grey smoke rose and Tech's armoured form disappeared behind it. Coughs from the policemen and the Loonatics resulted. Seconds later, the smoke began to clear. Ace, having gotten to his feet, looked around for Tech.

"He's gone!" Ace observed aloud.

The other four Loonatics slowly and groggily picked themselves up. There was a sudden bright flash of light coming from outside through the front doors. Ace ran out to see what it was. When he surveyed the outside premises, he saw some of the team of policemen stationed outside apparently recovering from a shock of some sort. They were rubbing their eyes in discomfort.

"He had flash bombs!" one of the policemen informed Ace. "We didn't manage to see where he went."

At that point, the other Loonatics finally caught up with Ace outside. Ace then quickly turned to Rev.

"Rev?"

"I'm-on-it!"

Rev looked away as he channelled into his GPS.

"Agh!!"

Rev gripped his head suddenly in pain.

Ace and the others gathered around him in concern.

"Rev! What's wrong?!" Lexi asked.

"Uhh!-Can't-get-a-lock-onto-Tech's-mind-without-experiencing-discomfort!-He's-gotta-be-using-a-neural-feedback-agitator!-Preventing-me-from-focusing-onto-his-brain-patterns!-Probably-was-inbuilt-into-his-battle-suit."

Ace's face took on grim tones at this.

"He thought of everything." Ace muttered with clenched fists.

Back at his underground hide-out, Tech took heavy clunky steps toward his work area. The Upgrader suit was running low on power. He took out the vile with the liquid sample and the CCTV footage disc, laying them down on a table. The battle-suit opened up from the back, allowing its user to step out of it.

"Battery life didn't last as long as I had hoped." Tech mumbled to himself. "Gonna have to work on that, but for now, all I can do is recharge it."

Tech attached some power cables into slots in the battle-suit, recharging it.

"Now to properly analyze what I've found."

Tech picked up the CCTV footage disc and loaded it into the computer. As he waited for the video footage to start playing, he massaged his tired eyes with two fingertips. He fast-forwarded the video footage until he spotted his impersonator's entry into the bio-chemical labs. Then he paused the video and enlarged an image of his look-alike.

"Hmm, looks like me alright. A disguising holographic imager maybe?"

Tech played the video in slow-motion and studied the movements of his impersonator intently. His sharp eyes suddenly noticed what looked like an odd flickering of movement in the fake-Tech's left hand. He rewound the video to watch the odd hand flickering movement again. He then paused the image of the flickering hand and zoomed in on it. What he saw mildly confused him.

"It looks almost like…his hand was 're-sizing' for a moment."

Tech then noticed a drop of dark liquid dripping off one of his impersonator's fingers in the magnified image too.

"That explains the source of the strange dark liquid I found at the labs," Tech deduced, "but what was it exactly?"

Tech relocated himself to a table full of chemical apparatus. He extracted a sample of the strange dark red liquid with a syringe and transferred a few drops of it onto a glass slide for his microscope. He studied the magnified image of the liquid.

"This is…living tissue!" Tech realised aloud. "It's from some living creature, or person!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

Tech carefully picked up the glass slide and placed it in an analysis machine.

"Computer, give me a full molecular level scan on this substance sample."

The computer went to work on analysing the sample. An enlarged image of a genetic DNA structure came up on the screen.

"It resembles human DNA, but…altered with fluid properties. And there are traces of some unknown chemical."

Tech paused in thought for a moment.

"The mutagen-14 formula! Could this be mutated human DNA from someone dosed with it? Perhaps my impersonator can shape-shift! Which explains how he or she took on my appearance."

Tech inspected the molecular structure screen image closely again.

"Judging by the minimal residual levels of the unrecognised chemical, I'd say it's been in this tissue sample for a long while. Whoever this sample originated from wasn't contaminated by the chemical within the last week that's for certain, so it couldn't have gotten into this person after the theft of the M-14. This person had to have been exposed to the chemical at least about 6 months ago."

Tech's eyes widened as another realisation hit him.

"And 6 months ago was about the time that research on the M-14 formula was halted by the ACS!"

Tech immediately began hacking into the Acme Science Council's computer records again. He accessed the M-14 experimental records and fell upon a disturbing discovery.

"Research was terminated soon after the fatality of one of the scientists! Dr. Alana Aquarius, she was caught in an accidental explosion that resulted from an unexpected and unstable reaction of the mutagen during one of the testing trials. Her body was never recovered though. There was no sign of her after the accident, so she was assumed dead."

Tech regarded a photo of Dr. Aquarius on the screen. She had short, light-brown hair, cut close to her head, and watery-blue eyes, a very normal-looking woman. Tech tapped his weary forehead lightly as he tried to think back to a few months ago.

"This news never made it out to the public, which means the police may never have been aware of this incident half a year ago either! If that's the case, I think I can guess why. The ACS is a major and highly respected scientific organisational body. Their reputation would be compromised if news of such an accident resulting in a death were to come to the light of public attention."

Tech picked up the remainder of the dark red liquid sample left in the glass vile, staring at it grimly.

"And if this is all that's left of Dr. Aquarius now, she'll likely want vengeance. She'll be out for their blood."

An expression of regret came over Tech's face.

"I wish I'd never given them my 'DNA Stabilizer' all that time ago."

Tech turned back to the computer screen.

"So if Aquarius is the one behind the M-14 theft from last night, what's she going to do with it?"

Tech's eyes fell upon an announcement notice on the ACS computer records.

"There's an annual general meeting of all the Science Council members tomorrow evening. That's it! Aquarius might be planning to exact her revenge then! She'll strike all her former employers and colleagues in one fell swoop with the stolen M-14!"

Tech's expression hardened.

"I'll have to get to the ACS head building tomorrow night to stop her. I just hope I can do it before either the police or Ace and the others find me again."

Meanwhile, back at Loonatics' HQs, Ace is pacing up and down the central command room with his hands behind his back in an obviously bothered manner. Slam and Duck are seated, and Lexi is leaning on a railing watching Ace's pacing worriedly. Rev is absent.

"Ace, it's no good getting yourself so worked up." Lexi commented gently.

Ace stopped and faced her.

"He actually fought with us Lex! If that ain't proof that he's gone haywire, then I don't know what is! And with that stolen chemical, who knows what Tech is planning to do! He could be building a bomb with it for all we know! The whole city could be under threat!"

"And he has been pretty good at whupping our butts in our last two encounters with him." Duck added sulkingly.

Slam nodded in agreement with Duck.

Lexi cast Duck an annoyed glance. "You're not helping Duck."

"He's right Lex." Ace agreed seriously. "Tech's always been prepared for us."

"Then-we'll-have-to-be-prepared-for-him!"

Ace and the others turned to see Rev entering the room, carrying a gun launcher of some sort.

"This-circuitry-scrambler-launcher-from-Tech's-lab-should-take-out-that-battle-suit-of-his."

"Good idea Rev! We'll use his own technology against him!" Ace agreed. "Now we sit and wait for the fox to come outta his hole."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7

The next night, Tech flies to the Acme Science Council head building in his Upgrader battle-suit. He lands inconspicuously on the building's roof top and kneels silently by a roof window, spying on the proceedings going on beneath him in a large hall, where many Council members are gathered and talking to one another. He pulls out a small tracking device.

"My genetic pattern tracker attuned to Aquarius' liquid DNA sample should detect her presence if she reaches anywhere within a 10 mile radius of this place."

Tech quietly waited, monitoring both the meeting occurring below him in the hall and his tracking device. After about 15 minutes, Tech's tracker picked up a signal heading into the building. The armoured coyote rose to his feet and made his move.

A strange, thin stream of dark red liquid purposefully snaked its way across the entrance grounds into the ACS head building, carrying an object covered with its dark red fluids. Once inside, it slid into a shadowed corner. A moment later, someone resembling a Council scientist with a white lab coat on stepped out of the shadowed corner. The apparent scientist made his way quietly toward an empty lab room near to the main hall where the meeting was taking place, pulling along an unknown device behind him on wheels. He nodded in a deceivingly polite manner at other unsuspecting Council members that happened to pass him in the hallway. Once the fake scientist had closed the door of the empty lab room behind him, his body suddenly transformed into the strange dark red liquid mass once again. The sentient dark red liquid moulded itself into an upright standing form, pushing its unknown device that it had brought with it, to the centre of the room. Two arm-like appendages separated from its sides and began tampering with a control key panel on the device.

"Back to where it all started Dr. Aquarius?"

The head of the dark red liquid body reversed itself to face an arm-gun wielding, armoured Tech E. Coyote that had apparently appeared out of nowhere.

"More like where it all ended." the dark red liquid being uttered in a watery, echoing voice. "It was in this very building that my life as a scientist came to a screeching halt. Well done Dr. Coyote! You figured out who your doppelganger was! And please, call me 'Aqueous'!"

Tech cocked his arm gun at the liquid being.

"Back away from the bomb! Now!" he firmly commanded in reference to the unknown device that the dark liquid being had brought in.

Aqueous' liquid body slid up to Tech.

"Do you know what this bomb will do?" Aqueous questioned teasingly in her bubbling voice.

"You're going to release the stolen mutagen-14 in gaseous form into the air of this building, and expose all the Council members to it. An act of revenge."

"Myyy, you 'are' good Dr. Coyote! You really are the brains of the Loonatics! But it's not just personal revenge, it's justice! The Council risked my life for its experiments into the M-14 formula! Then tried to cover up my death! Pretend I never existed! I'm giving those 'murderers' exactly what they deserve!"

"Let the police do that Aquarius! You can't decide punishment on your own!"

Aqueous' featureless liquid face drew closer to Tech's metallic, masked face.

"Do you know why I set 'you' up Dr. Coyote?" she posed to him in a disturbingly smooth tone.

Tech remained silent as he waited for the answer he knew was coming.

"I suspected that you'd be the only one of the Loonatics knowledgeable and smart enough to figure out my plans and discover my unfortunate past accident. So you were a threat I couldn't afford to have actively pursuing me, though you somehow managed to avoid being taken into police custody. But that's not the main reason. About a year and 3 months ago, you contributed a device, the 'DNA Stabilizer', to research into the M-14 formula. It was because of your DNA Stabilizer's malfunction that the explosion occurred!"

Tech's mechanical green optics widened in surprise.

"That's right! One of your inventions caused my accident! Turned me into this! Your DNA Stabilizer's energy beams on a high setting reacted dangerously with a batch of the M-14 formula that I was testing all those months ago! The resulting explosion left my body like this! Now I can't hold a human form for more than half an hour! I'm a freak!"

Aqueous suddenly dived toward her M-14 bomb again.

Tech held up his hand in dismayed protest. "Dr. Aquarius! Don't do this! Don't make a mistake you'll regret!" Tech pleadingly reasoned. "It's still not too late to get help!"

"It was too late for me 6 months ago Dr. Coyote!" Aqueous replied acidly. "You think I haven't tried to 'help' myself?! I was one of the Council's top geneticists! And I can tell you there is no way to reverse my mutation! Or anyone else's! All those trials with the M-14 were failures! The formula could never be perfected! The M-14 was supposed to be a 'cure' for meteor mutants! But look what it did to me! Dr. Alana Aquarius 'did' perish in that explosion 6 months ago! Now 'Aqueous' is all that remains! The Council will pay for destroying my life! And so will you!"


	9. Chapter 9

This is the last chapter before the final epilogue! A big thank you to everyone who's read this story and left feedback for me! Enjoy!

Chapter 8

Aqueous launched her stream-like liquid form directly at Tech. Tech leapt out of her path just in time, sliding sideways across the floor. Before he could get to his feet again though, Aqueous slammed her jet-stream liquid body into him, pushing him up to a wall with a hard impact.

"Ugghh!"

Tech was then wrapped tightly by her liquid body, and sent crashing up to the ceiling, then to a wall, another wall, and finally the floor. Tech weakly moaned in pain. His battle-suit had protected him from the worst of the impacts, but he had still been shaken badly, and the suit had now taken on severe damage. Electrical sparks were being spurted from the damaged hinges of the metal suit. And Aqueous wasn't done yet. Keeping Tech tightly restrained in her wrapped grip, an offshoot liquid arm swirled around Tech's neck and head, and she ripped his metal helmet off with a quick twist. Then she brought his unmasked, vulnerable face close to her featureless face again.

"Let's crack this tin shell of yours open shall we?"

She then sent tendrils of her liquid matter around Tech's armour, which began seeping into the small gaps and joints of it. She was slowly forcing his armour to split apart. Tech let out an agonized cry.

"EeeuuuuRRRAAAAAAGGGHHH!!"

A sharp blade-like appendage emerged from Aqueous' body and sunk itself into the armour plating of Tech's chest. It penetrated the armour and Aqueous began forcing the cut armour plating apart. She then plunged her blade-like appendage through Tech's exposed chest, impaling him through the heart. Tech's body fell limp. Only then did Aqueous finally release Tech, dropping his still body onto the floor. Without a word of remorse, she turned back to her M-14 bomb and began setting its countdown sequence: 5 minutes.

Unbeknownst to her, Tech's molecular regeneration was rapidly healing his chest injury. He sluggishly rose to his feet once more.

"That hurt."

Aqueous, surprised, spun round to face him, only to have a pellet thrown into her viscous liquid body. In the space of a second, a chemical was dispersed from the pellet and spread through her body, freezing her solid. Tech walked up to her frozen form.

"Liquid nitrogen, never leave home without it."

Tech then turned his attention back to the activated bomb. He dragged his exhausted body toward it, panting heavily from his physical exertions.

"Fire scramblers!"

Tech's armoured back was suddenly hit by two devices that latched onto him. A large jolt of electricity passed through his armour, short-circuiting it.

"Eeeeyyyaaaaahhhhhh!!"

He let out a cry of pain and fell down onto his knees weakly, his battle-suit now completely dead, its systems rendered inoperative. As he looked up, he saw Ace and the other Loonatics approaching him. Rev was holding his scrambler launcher gun. Ace looked at Tech with glowing gold eyes.

"Try getting away again Tech, and we have something else from your workshop of wonders to take you down!" Ace warned.

"The bomb!" Tech rasped weakly. "I have to deactivate it!"

"Or accelerate its countdown!" Ace countered.

"Errr Ace, this bomb is reading only 20 seconds!" Lexi cried in dismay.

Rev, Slam and Duck looked at Ace in panic too.

Tech stared pleadingly at Ace. "Please, you have to trust me…"

Ace regarded Tech uncertainly for a few moments, torn between whether to trust his former team mate or not. Finally he held out his hand to Tech.

"Don't let us down Tech."

Ace pulled Tech to his feet and supported him from underneath his arm. He helped the coyote toward the bomb. The countdown sequence was at 10 seconds now. Tech skimmed his fingers speedily over the bomb's key panel. He terminated the countdown just as it reached the last second. All the Loonatics let out a sigh of relief.

"Welcome back Tech." Ace sincerely said.

Tech smiled a small smile in satisfied relief.


	10. Chapter 10

This is the final epilogue readers! Again, lots of thank yous to everyone who's read and left feedback for this story! I have really appreciated it! Hope this ending is satisfactory. Enjoy!

Epilogue

Half an hour later, the police had reached the ACS head building. Some of the Science Council members were being questioned by policemen, others watched in amazement as policemen transferred the frozen body of Aqueous into a transport vehicle. Tech's damaged battle-suit had been removed and he was now cross-armed, leaning his shoulder against the back of an ambulance van, watching with remorsefulness as Aqueous was pushed into the back of the transport vehicle.

Lexi walked up to Tech. "Tech? You look worn out." she commented.

"Haven't had much sleep in the last 48 hours, not surprising." Tech muttered.

She held out some pills to him. "The paramedics say these'll be good to soothe your nerves and subdue any pain."

"I don't need those," Tech solemnly remarked without even looking, "I'm accustomed to stress and physical pain."

Lexi gave Tech a disapproving look, but said nothing and closed her hand over the pills. The other Loonatics joined them then.

"Y'know it's my fault she is what she is now." Tech confessed, not looking at his team mates as he talked.

Ace lay a hand on Tech's shoulder. "Tech, from you've told us, you didn't know…"

"Just like Mallorey Casey! My intervention in her work turned her into a super villain as well!" Tech continued in remorse.

He turned to face his team mates then, anger and guilt apparent in his eyes. "My DNA Stabilizer malfunctioned! Reacted with the M-14 and turned Dr. Aquarius into 'that'!"

Tech pointed toward the police transport vehicle now housing the frozen Aqueous.

"I must be cursed! I'm not helping people, I'm hurting them!"

To his team mates' shock, Tech slammed the side of his fist into the ambulance van's metal door in frustration.

"And y'know what else? I built that DNA Stabilizer over a year ago soon after the meteor collision because…because I was afraid!"

"Afraid of what?" Rev asked in an uncommon slower speech rate.

"Of what I had become! My powers weren't easy for me to control let alone accept in the beginning! I couldn't leave a concrete house for the first 3 months after exposure to the meteor's radiation! 'Coz every time I walked into a metal building, my magnetic energies would attract the metal walls and cause them to start caving in toward me! I'd be endangering others as well as myself if I went anywhere near metal of any sort! I created that DNA Stabilizer to aid the ACS in their research for a cure for meteor-induced mutation. I wanted to be normal again. Now it's done the exact opposite! It's turned an innocent person 'abnormal'!"

Ace and the others glanced at one another nervously, unsure of how to respond to their coyote friend's anguish.

"Dr. Aquarius was confused, scared, bitter…like I was initially. She was a victim, not a real villain."

"At least the police now will launch an investigation against the ACS and into the events surrounding her accident half a year ago." Ace tried to offer.

"Too little, too late." Tech murmured sadly.

The other Loonatics looked at Tech with pity and sympathy.

"Tech, we all do things that we regret…" Lexi began.

"But how many of you have done things that destroyed lives?" Tech responded with emotional pain painting his expression. Turmoil was written in his lime-green eyes.

"Tech…" Rev tried to comfort his friend, reaching for him.

But Tech pushed Rev's hands away. "I need to be alone for a while."

With that, Tech walked down the street, away from his team mates, away from the busy sounds of police radios and talking people, away from the city's lights, away from his inner torment.

**The End.**


End file.
